New to the forum. I have a high school freshmen this year and we are preparing to re-locate next summer where we will remain until my son completes high school in 2027. We will be sending my son to a private school (for personal reasons) and have three from which to choose. Each of the three offers something different academically and I’d like some feedback from this forum.
My son is gifted in math. He took the PSATs this year and scored 760 (Math)/690 (EBRW). On gifted and talented testing, he regularly scores 3 or more standard deviations above the mean in math. As such, I want to ensure that any choice that we make regarding his next high school does not inadvertently close doors to the elite STEM institutions (MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, CalTech, etc). I fully understand that these schools are hard to get into and he may not even want to attend any of the above. I’m just looking for feedback on whether sending him to any of the below high schools would put him at a disadvantage.
He is currently taking Honors Pre-Calc and Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry, and Honors Physics.
The biggest distinguisher between the high schools is in the AP and Dual Enrollment courses on offer.
Option A
AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, Dual Enrollment Multivariate Calc, AP Stats
AP Chem, AP Physics I, AP Physics C
AP LangComp, AP LitComp
AP Comp Sci
AP US History
AP Macroenconomics, AP Microeconomics
AP French (Other languages offered, but he is in French now)
STEM Academy offered
Option B
AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC
No AP Sciences
AP LangComp, AP LitComp
AP US History, AP Government
No AP Languages
STEM Academy offered
Option C
Dual Enrollment Calc I
No AP Sciences
No AP English
AP US History, AP Government
No AP Languages
Clearly, there is a large difference between option A and options B and C. My question is "If we decide to send him to Option B or Option C for reasons other than academics (cost, sports, etc), how much (if at all) are we placing him at a disadvantage for admission into one of those elite engineering schools?
Does school C offer “college level” classes even if they are not called APs? A number of private high schools as well as some public high schools have opted out of AP courses (with their very specific curriculum) but do offer equivalent level classes.
Regardless of the goal, it seems like C is not a great option for someone STEM oriented. He has basically already maxed out the Math curriculum. Schools don’t really penalize you for what your school doesn’t offer, but I think this line plays better with under resourced publics, than privates. Particularly if there are “stronger” privates around. And yes, MV will help.
My main concern it, will he find like minded student at options B and C?
AP in itself is not necessary. Many of the top prep schools in the country have moved away from APs, but this is because they found the curriculum restrictive and not as strong as it needs to be to serve their students.
Our public school had option A that my daughter and the kids at her school took full advantage of. My daughter and the other kids that ranked top 10% at their school have all been deferred from their top-choice high-ranked schools. They all got into UVA though, which is our in-state “prestigious” school. My guess is that option B and C will put him at a disadvantage.
Great question. Option C offers Honors Calc and Honors Stats as dual credit. They also offer Honors Biology and Honors Chem as dual credit, but that may just repeat what he is doing now. They also offer Honor Eng 11 and Eng 12 without a dual credit option.
Depending on major, these HS classes will be standard. Another thing to consider, aside from getting accepted or not, is that the vast majority of his peers will have had them, and it may put him at a significant disadvantage freshman year to not have this “foundation.”
I agree. Option C is a smaller school and can’t offer as much, but I was surprised that none of those were offered at Option B (Enrollment ~800 in high school).
When we were making that decision we found that the local public schools (average, middle class, 30% free lunch enrollment) had a more advanced math track than the private schools we looked at. They did not know where they would place my son, so we opted for the LPS.
I would be concerned about Option C if they truly have no advanced science classes. They don’t have to be officially “AP” but do they challenge students?
A students can get into all the elite schools from anywhere, it depends on whether they have taken the “most rigorous” courseload. And a lotta luck.
Thanks for that feedback. I understand “most rigorous”, but really wondered there was a limit on that if “most rigorous” really isn’t all that rigorous.
They do offer Honors Chem and Honors Biology as dual credit so that may be sufficient to challenge most students.
I think you need to look more carefully at the curriculum and then also weigh the non-academic offerings.
As others have said, some privates have their own high level nonAP courses. Can you tell if that is the case? Could you have a conversation about what your son’s choices might be?
What other benefits does each school offer - sports, arts, clubs, advising and college counseling? Also consider social fit since he is changing high schools. Good luck!
Dual Credit courses are taught by (name of high school) teachers who have been approved by (Name of local university) to teach at the college level. Curriculum aligns with college courses, and credit is awarded on a weighted (5.0) scale. Students earn both college and high school credit (additional fee for the college credit applies).
Thanks for your response. I’ve been through the entire course catalog. I can confirm that they do not offer their own high level nonAP courses. I already had the conversation with Option C on math. They suggested:
Also, we are absolutely considering these and Option B and Option C are compelling for opportunities to participate and sports and social fit. My academic questions are aimed at understanding what sacrifice we might be making in choosing either of them. Thanks.
Personally I like DE over AP because our state unis will accept DE classes as long as it’s listed as transferrable (Assist.org has a list). AP, you will need to see if it’s AB/BC and did you get a 4 or 5 or what school and major… But this point is hotly debated.
At least in CA, dual enrollment is free to HS students and in my area, the colleges are open to 9thgrades and up, 11 units per semester. Kids may do more, but need to petition.
My kids go to a small charter school because I’m too cheap and too poor to pay for private schools. The charter school is not academically rigorous but does offer free time that my kids can use doing other stuff. Son did apply to all the schools on your list, I’ll see if his path helps him get in.
I wouldn’t say many. They (the ones who do) may award empty units but not actual class credit, especially for engineering. Also very dependent on AP scores, 3,4,5 gets you different credits, if any.
But my take is on this is:
We don’t have AP, so it’s irrelevant. And my kids prefer not to go to a school where they learn by repetition.
Even if they don’t get transfer credit, as long as the classes help get them in, repeating things they already learned is not the end of the world.
I think I already said, it’s free.
Verifies they actually want to study this before going in. My son already knows he doesn’t want to be a programmer after taking classes and learned a coding certificate.
strongly second this. As a teacher, I witness this everyday that like-minded students nurture each other’s growth much more effectively than what teachers can do. Each student may have multiple interests. If they’re in a school where they can find like-minded peers for each interest, they will grow faster and stronger.